Shaab Shona

Current: S in the morning, S at midday, N in the afternoon
Visibility: J, F, M, A: 25–35m; M, J, J, A: 20–30m; S, O, N, D: 30–40m
Temperatures: J, F, M: 24–24°C; A, M, J: 26–28°C; J, A, S: 28-30°C; O, N, D: 28-25°C
Depth: 45 m

Overview

Shaab Shona is the second bay to the south after Port Ghaleb and one of the few places where you still have the chance to meet a manatee (dugong). This alone is worth a dive. There is also a beautiful coral garden and a large sea grass meadow with sea turtles, leopard rays or even ghost ray fish.

Description

The lagoon is formed from a dried up river (wadi) and with a diameter of 150m between 5 and 45m deep. You can still see the wadi in the middle as a channel that rises to the north and south. In the north there is a plateau whose edges drop from 14 to over 40m.
The north side is characterized by boulders where you can find ghost pipefish, long-jawed makerels, glassfish and crocodile fish, but of course also as many different coral species. They reach from the reef edge partly down to 20m and are covered with life.

Hotspots

On the seagrass meadow in the inner area you can meet with a little luck a dugong, mostly in shallow water, or 10 to 12m lionfish and also big turtles. In the west there is a nice small coral garden behind a sandy area.
The southern edge has steep slopes and a large sand pile that drops from 20m to over 40m. There are accumulations of sand eels and all kinds of rays.

Dive Plans

1.South in the morning 2.North at noon 3.Seaweed in the afternoon 4.Night dive

South in the morning

Take the Zodiac south and descend over the southeastern hills to 25 meters to the west. After a short time you will come to a sandy area with garden eels. Behind it you should go up to 15m and look carefully - there is a lot to discover. Then you have to go roughly west over the sea grass meadow. At the side of the meadow there are often big groupers and leopard rays - but you have to work against a slight current coming from the lagoon.

North at noon

The best thing to do is to let the Zodiac take you 50m to the outside of the bay. There the plateau starts from a slope at 14m. On the way south you pass several cleaning stations and have the current behind you. At the blocks you will find glassfish and with a lot of luck a ghost pipefish.

Seaweed in the afternoon

From the boat you dive south to the seagrass. At the small block in the west of the meadow live lionfish (Attention: very poisonous spines!). Continue into the seagrass and in 7 to 10m with a little luck to the dugong. You will see its feeding traces clearly in the sea grass.

Night dive

A small area like the coral mound in the back or the north edge is quite sufficient for this dive. At the north edge watch out for the current. You can find octopuses, sea urchins, scorpion fish, slugs and Spanish dancers here.